Veolia opens Bulla Recycling Facility

A new organic green waste facility operated by Veolia Environmental Services was opened today by The Hon Ryan Smith MP for Environment and Climate Change in north-westMelbourne. The facility will use state-of-the-art Australian technology to turn thousands of tonnes of green waste into high-grade compost for agriculture.

The new facility, located at Bulla, about 30 kilometres from Melbourne, cost about $15 million to build and is now the most technologically advanced and efficient organic facility in the country.

It will process on average about 85,000 tonnes of green waste every year, including bush trimmings, lawn clippings and small tree parts.

Using technology developed by Veolia and its partners, this waste will be turned into approximately 60,000 tonnes of high-grade compost, which will then be sold to commercial operators, such as those in commercial scale horticulture and metropolitan soil markets.

The managing director of Veolia, Doug Dean, said the Bulla facility confirmed the company’s position as an industry leader in sustainable and renewable practices.

“It is a great example of sustainability that will also help reduce the need for new landfills in the region. Importantly, the process to be used at the new facility is aerobic, which means it avoids the generation of methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is released naturally if the waste was simply disposed in a landfill. Turning this green waste into a useful product such as high-grade compost not only makes business sense but it is also good news for the environment. That is why Veolia is continuing to invest in new technologies at a local level as part of our long-standing commitment to turning waste into a resource across Australia.”

Mr Dean said the new facility would produce compost from green waste delivered through a 15 year agreement with the Metropolitan Waste Management Group and 11 participating councils in the north and west of Melbourne.

“This partnership with the Victorian Government and local councils in the area is an example of how the public and private sectors can join forces to help reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.”